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November 09, 2012

Strange Attractor Invades NYC!

Julian House "Peacock Angels" from Strange Attractor 4

It's come to my attention that Mark Pilkington of the glorious Strange Attractor Press has made his way across the pond to infect NYC with his special brand of high weirdness. He'll be involved with the following events, including one at our own Observatory, where I'll be in rapt attendance:

The Ullage Group Presents: Mark Pilkington

Mark Pilkington, an old friend of the Ullage Group, will talk about
his book "Mirage Men: An Adventure into Paranoia, Espionage,
Psychological Warfare, and UFOs."
2:00PM Sunday, Nov. 11. Admission is $10, which will be given to
hurricane relief. For more info, see ullagegroup.com

About the Ullage Group

Ullage
has several meanings: deficiency, lack, the air at the top of a bottle,
the sediment after the bottle is emptied, the fumes in an engine. The
Ullage Group takes it as an emblem of the other part: the contrarian,
paradoxical, lost, unpopular, and forgotten.

Nigel Kneale (1922-2004) was a visionary dramatist, a pioneering
screenwriter-auteur, one of the most important British science fiction
writers of the 20th century. In works such as the Quatermass trilogy
(watched by one third of UK television owners), The Year of the Sex Olympics and The Stone Tape,
Kneale forged singularly visceral and unforgettable fusions of horror,
spooked thriller and Cold War-era weirdness that have captured the
imaginations of artists and intellectuals as diverse as Pink Floyd,
Monty Python, Greil Marcus, psychogeographer Patrick Keiller and
novelist China Mieville. The radical sound designs these dramas deployed
(often courtesy of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop), allied to their
prescient explorations of the eldritch fringes of auditory Albion, have
attracted the attention of theorists such as Mark Fisher and the Ghost Box record label.

A Cathode Ray Séance is a day-long celebration of
this hauntological icon whose work, even though it paved the way for
well-known series such as Doctor Who, is less familiar to American than
to British audiences. Staged by the New York-based Colloquium for
Unpopular Culture (Kiss Me Again: The Life and Legacy of Arthur Russell; Leaving The Factory: Wang Bing’s Tie Xi Qu – West of the Tracks) in collaboration with London’s Strange Attractor
(, it will include rare screenings, talks by Kneale admirers, and a
special musical interpretation by Mark Pilkington, Rose Kallal and Micki
Pellerano of Kneale’s legendary-but-lost 1963 drama The Road.

From the Akashic Jukebox: Magic and Music
in Britain, 1888-1978: Illustrated Lecture and Rare British Occult
Recordings with Mark Pilkington of Strange Attractor Press

Magic and music are as old as humanity, but organised witchcraft–a
British cultural export whose influence has been felt all over the
world–is younger than jazz. In tonight’s talk, illustrated with images,
music and rare recordings, Strange Attractor’s
Mark Pilkington explores British occultism’s origins in the bohemian
groves of late 19th century London, and charts its impact on popular
music and some of its players, from the rock ‘n’ roll years through to
the paradigm shift of punk. The emerging stories glow with
transcendence, ripple with mystery, honk with absurdity and are all too
often shadowed by tragedy.

On a related note, Strange Attractor will be publishing a "lavishly-illustrated" anthology by our dear friend and Observatory cohort, Joanna Ebenstein of Morbid Anatomy. You simply must support its Kickstarter, as the prizes are luscious and the people involved are the creme de la creme of the alterna-verse. The book will be a marvel, no doubt.